On The Wing
by Xx-Twitch-xX
Summary: When Itex needs someone to keep an eye on the flock, Tairah Leer, daughter of Steven Leer and head of Itex, seems to be perfect for the job. Tairah and the flock think they've got it all under control, but Itex has a few more cards to play. Iggy/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

_First Person- Tairah Leer (That's pronounced Tare-uh. 'Tare' rhymes with 'bear')_

There was someone in front of me. I could see bare knees and some _quite_ short white shorts from over my book. I dog-eared my page and set it down, looking up to face _her_.

"What?" I was irritated someone had interrupted my reading. Especially someone as petty as she. Note the lack of the letter 'r' in the fourth word of that last sentence.

She wrinkled her ugly nose, making her ugly appearance worse, when she saw I was actually _reading._ "Bear wants a new punching bag. You'll meet him outside by the big tree if you know what's good for you." Bear was her huge boyfriend, if you could even call him a boy. He was more like a monster that looked like he could rip your arms out of your sockets. I realized he probably could.

I rolled my eyes anyway. I'd been 'summoned' to this 'big tree' outside the school several times. I always ignored it; nothing had ever come of it. "Yeah, yeah, Stacy. Could you leave me alone now? I need to finish my book; I assume you know what a book is, by today if I want to return it to the library without a late fee. I guess I'm really pushing it by assuming you know what a library is. If you want to know, it has a bunch of _books_ that people_ read._ You'd hate it." I sneered and picked my book back up. Stacy huffed and I could feel her glaring down at me.

"You're really gonna get it if you don't show this time, Leer. Bear's getting _really_ impatient. You better be there, or else." I chuckled at her attempt to be threatening. With my family, it was flat out impossible to scare me.

She clomped away in her six-inch heels and I went back to my reading, thinking of nothing other than Val Jean and Cosette as I delved deeper into the world of Victor Hugo's _Les Misérables._

_~!~_

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and began my long trek home. I refused to let my father's car pick me up. I preferred to be known as 'that-girl-who-reads-too-much' not 'that-girl-who-comes-and-goes-to-school-in-a-limousine'. Plus, I always found the walk refreshing.

What I didn't find refreshing about _this_ walk was that I was being followed. There were footsteps echoing mine. I'd been taught self-defense, so I wasn't too worried if it was an old man, intent on kidnapping me. If it was Bear and his buddies, I was dead meat. I spun around, ready to fight. Might as well let the vultures come get me now.

Bear pushed me into wall and held me there, pushing my shoulders into the brick wall. There was anger in his dim-witted brown eyes and his straight white teeth were smiling wickedly. "You should have listened when Stacy told you to show up at the tree. I would've gone easy on you. A couple scratches here and there, nothing big. Maybe a broken bone or two. But you ran, and that always makes things more… interesting." He nodded a head to his brother, Bo, an equally strong brute who restrained me by my elbows. Then, Bear punched me in the stomach.

_Third Person- The Flock_

Max looked down and saw it. A girl, no older than she, getting beaten to a pulp by some eraser-looking freak while restrained by another, just as large. There were three others standing to the side, laughing when she cried out in pain. She glared down at them, and Fang, her second in command and almost-boyfriend caught her eye, shaking his head slightly.

"Not another Ella, Max. You got shot last time," he said quietly, brushing his wingtip on hers. Her heart flip-flopped, but she ignored it.

"If they had guns, wouldn't they be using them? I mean, it _looks_ like they want to kill the girl." Max had started hovering over the spot, but they were so far up, no one from the ground could see them. The rest of her flock had stopped when they realized their leader wasn't with them anymore. Her second faced her. He shook his head, making his black bangs fall into his obsidian eyes.

"Max, _no._ Weren't we going to visit your mom?" He asked, using his logic against her.

"This is her town. One stop won't slow us down any. Mom's not expecting us until tomorrow." For once, Max had one-upped _the_ Fang. She'd made him see _her_ logic. According to this Max-logic, the girl below them needed help. Her black haired companion sighed and started diving. Max grinned triumphantly.

"Ig, land, one o'clock, follow my sound," she told her blind almost-brother and began following Fang. They landed behind an old building and tucked their wings into their backs.

"Okay. You guys stay here. Max and I will take care of them," Fang ordered the rest, and then he and Max walked out into the fight.

_More like a slaughter,_ Max thought as she stood, appalled as the girl coughed up blood. She nodded to Fang. Her look revealed her intentions. She would stop the main fighter and the restrainer; Fang would take nasties one, two, and three.

Max tapped the main fighter on his burly shoulder. He had muscles everywhere, but he was still human. No match for a human-avian hybrid. He turned, his stupid eyes focusing and un-focusing on Max's face.

"I'm afraid we'll have to let introductions wait," she said menacingly as she punched him square in the face. He crumpled to the ground like paper. One of her flock members would have barely been bruised by the punch.

The attacker moaned on the ground and Max kicked him hard in the ribs; a few might have cracked, maybe snapped. She only cared that the girl got help. She was going to need Iggy when the fight was over.

The one restraining the girl was eyeing Max fearfully. She liked that look. She liked that look a lot. The girl slumped, unconscious in his hold.

"Let go of the girl and I won't hurt you _too_ badly," she said, giving him her best death-glare. He nodded furiously. "Slowly, now. Set her down on the sidewalk; make sure she's sitting upright. That's it… Now give me your best shot." The boy swung wildly, missing Max by a mile. She laughed. "Is that the best ya got?" She asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She decided a roundhouse kick to the chest would do the trick. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

Fang finished nasty number three with a final punch and laughed, making Max blush and try to hide it. Their attention was quickly drawn to the girl, however.

"Fun. How is she? I hope it's no- Iggy!" Fang called to his blind almost-brother. The four remaining flock members and their talking dog joined the pair. Fang directed Iggy, the flock medic, to the girl. Max had the girl's head on her lap, wiping blood away with the hem of her dirty shirt. Iggy's sensitive fingers brushed over the wounds. Fang pushed her shirt up to reveal her stomach. It was an unhealthy shade of purple-red. Iggy's sensitive fingers fluttered over her ribs and he cursed.

"She has three… scratch that, _four_ cracked ribs and the scratches on her arms might be infected. She needs a hospital." The words seemed to bring the girl back around. She shook her head, wincing as she sat up with Iggy's help. She tried to move her arms to get her dirty blond hair out of her eyes, but gasped and stopped. Max pushed her hair behind her ears.

"What's that about a hospital?" She asked hoarsely, eyeing Iggy as Max helped her roll her shirt back down.

"You have cracked ribs; you need a doctor and possibly surgery," he replied, taking a first aid kit from the youngest of the flock, Angel.

"Yeah, you were coughing up blood right before Fa- I mean Nick and I jumped in," Max added. Fang nodded in agreement. The girl shook her head.

"No hospitals. My- my father won't allow it." Iggy found her arm and rubbed an alcohol swab on the cuts near her wrists and elbows. She winced and tried to jerk away, but Iggy's hold was firm. "Ow! That hurts, ya know!"

Iggy smirked and motioned to Angel, who put large bandages on the cuts. "Would you rather have your arm amputated?" He asked. "Now give me your other arm." He was speaking to the wall behind her, not quite at her eyes.

She put her other arm forward, bracing herself for the sting from the alcohol. "You're blind," she observed. The other flock members chuckled. The dark skinned one, Nudge, almost started a rant, but Max eyed her in warning.

Iggy smiled and rubbed her cuts with the swab. "Really? I couldn't tell," he commented dryly and the girl laughed, but stopped abruptly.

"That hurt. Um, thanks for helping me out, uh…" she trailed off and looked to her newfound saviors.

"I'm Jeff, that's Max." Max raised her hand. "Nick, Zephyr, Tiffany-Krystal, and Arial." Fang raised his hand, then The Gasman, Nudge, and Angel respectively. She seemed to buy the fake names.

"I'm Tairah."

Iggy finished cleaning her cuts and stood. Max and Fang helped her stand and they began to help her limp down the sidewalk.

"That big one's my house. Just walk me to the door. My father will take care of my injuries. Thanks for your help." They helped her to the door of a large colonial style house and she let herself in. She leaned against the door and faced them. "Uh, I guess I'll be seeing you guys around." She shut the door and the flock turned, jogging back to the building they were hiding behind before. The flight to Dr. Martinez's house was a short one. When they were almost there, Angel giggled.

"She thought Iggy and Fang were cute."

~!~

_First Person- Tairah_

I started coughing up blood when I saw them. A girl with brown sun-streaked hair and a boy with floppy black hair eyeing Bear, Bo and the three others with contempt. They nodded at each other and the girl tapped on Bear's shoulder. She was in for it.

"I'm afraid we'll have to let introductions wait," she said as she punched Bear in the nose. He fell to the ground and she kicked him, hard. Then, everything went black.

~!~

There were fingers brushing my stomach; it hurt, badly. My head was resting on someone's knee and they were wiping wet stuff, blood, from my face.

"…hospital," someone said. I opened my eyes. Father would never let me go to a hospital. I shook my head and sat up with the help of a boy around my age with red-blond spiky hair. I tried to push my hair out of my eyes, but my arms hurt badly. The girl I saw earlier helped me and pushed it behind my ear.

"What's that about a hospital?" I asked. My ribs hurt badly; I couldn't take deep breaths.

"You have broken ribs; you need a doctor and possibly surgery," he replied, taking a first aid kit from a young girl with curly blond hair and innocent blue eyes.

"Yeah, you were coughing up blood right before Fa- I mean Nick and I jumped in," the girl that helped me earlier added. The dark haired boy nodded in agreement. I shook my head.

"No hospitals. My- my father won't allow it." The boy with red-blond hair took my arm and rubbed a wet cloth on it. Whatever liquid on it made my cuts sting badly. "Ow! That hurts, ya know!" I exclaimed, trying to jerk away from him, but his grip was too strong. It didn't even look like he was trying.

He smirked and motioned to the young girl, who put large bandages on my cuts. "Would you rather have your arm amputated?" He asked. "Now give me your other arm." His icy blue eyes were focused on the wall behind me, not my eyes. He held his hand out patiently and I studied him.

He was pale; not vampire-Edward-pale, but you know what I mean. He was wearing a navy blue hoodie, even in Arizona, with the sleeves pushed up. His light jeans were quite worn and there were holes in both knees. He wore ripped black and white checkered vans. I blushed as I realized he was especially good-looking.

I offered him my other arm and he took it, looking down, but not quite at it. "You're blind," I observed. The others behind him started chuckling. Even their black Scottie dog growled in amusement.

He smiled, revealing straight, white teeth and wiped my arm. I tried to hide my pain. "Really? I couldn't tell," he commented wryly and I laughed, but it hurt badly and I stopped.

"That hurt. Um, thanks for helping me out, uh…" I trailed off and looked at my saviors that were surrounding me.

"I'm Jeff, that's Max." My female savior raised her hand. "Nick, Zephyr, Tiffany-Krystal, and Arial." The dark haired one raised his hand, he was kind of cute too, and then a younger boy that looked like Jeff's young helper, an African American girl, then his young helper with the curly blond hair and innocent eyes.

"I'm Tairah," I commented and they forced smiles at me.

Jeff and Arial finished cleaning my cuts; Max and Nick helped me stand and we limped down the sidewalk. I motioned with my head to my house.

"That big one's my house. Just walk me to the door. My father will take care of my injuries. Thanks for your help." They helped me to the door of a large colonial style house, my home, and I unlocked the door. I turned to face them and leaned on the door, attempting to stay upright. "Uh, I guess I'll be seeing you guys around." They nodded hesitantly and I closed the door.

~!~

"Tairah, dear, what happened?" My mother screeched when she saw me resting on the couch with a bandage around my midsection and ice on a black eye. Father is the head of this company, Itex, and we're rich. We have our own doctor living in the house; he fixed me up nice and quick. I'm apparently not to leave the house for a month.

Now, I've heard rumors about there being evil scientists in the company Itex, but my father is just a business man, nothing scandalous, so I have no clue what these claims are about flying children and mutants wolves on the internet. I digress.

"I got in a fight, Mother. A couple kids from school jumped in and ran 'em off. I have four cracked ribs and a few cuts on my arms. I'll be fine if I stay in bed for a month or so." She worriedly fussed with the blanket covering my legs and I rolled my eyes. At least Father was on a business trip and he couldn't find a way to blame this on me.

"Well, thank heavens for those kids from your school. If they hadn't jumped in, I don't know _what_ would've happened to my poor little baby. Who were they? I'll be sure to send their parents something nice."

I panicked, they hadn't said their last names, and I hadn't seen them around before. "Uh, I think they were new in the neighborhood, Mother. I hadn't seen them around before. When I go back to school, I'll be sure to get their address."

"All right, honey. Is there anything Paul could make for you? I'll be sure to tell him." I smiled. Paul was our cook. Yes, we had a _cook._ Don't judge.

"He's already making me a grilled cheese. I'll be fine, Mother, thanks."

**[END: Chapter One]**

**Oh, a disclaimer. I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters that may be recognized in this fan fiction. I didn't have an author's note at the beginning, so I thought I should add that here…**

**A quick introduction for those of you that don't know me. Hey, I'm Twitch! The name isn't just for fun; I actually do twitch constantly. I have TS (as in Tourrettes Syndrome. I'm not sure if I spelled that right…). If you don't know what TS is, you should go look it up.**

**Eh… Oh! I also do not own the names 'Bear' or 'Bo'. Those are the names of two brothers in a band I like, Needtobreathe. I'm listening to their CD **_**Daylight**_** as I write this, so I used their names.**

**I'd like so say a little about this story, **_**On the Wing.**_** I couldn't think of a better name… it might change eventually. This is my attempt at a 'good' seventh flier story. It seems as if there is a need for 'good' seventh flier stories. I'm sorry if you have a seventh flier story that I just called bad in a roundabout way of words, I don't mean to offend anyone. To clear things up, a 'seventh flier' story is about someone with wings that joins the flock. I'm trying to avoid bad self-insertion, as I read was happening in most of the seventh flier stories. Please, if it's terrible and I'm drifting towards bad self-insertion, tell me. I **_**love**_** constructive criticism; I feel it's better to have tons of people telling me my stuff sucks truthfully than to have them all telling me it great deceitfully. Don't take that the wrong way, though… I want **_**truthful**_** reviews. Not the usual 'Oh my gosh, [author], your story is so amazing and it's awesome and I can't wait to read more! Keep updating!' I hate that. **_**Truthful**_** doesn't always mean **_**encouraging.**_

**Sorry for the long AN. I'll try to keep them short, but this is the first chapter and… I'll keep them much shorter after this.**

**Now review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Any characters that may be recognized in this story from the **_**Maximum Ride**_** series belong to James Patterson.**

**Chapter Two**

_First Person- Tairah_

I was back in school a month later. My mother had gone to the school and gotten my books, forcing me to keep up with my classmates. I tried to tell her that I was already through my math book, but she wouldn't listen, forcing me to do Geometry while I was healing on the couch.

Father had returned, telling me that I needed to be more careful, blah blah blah. All the usual things. He didn't even realize I had cracked ribs until he tried to make me run to the store for him and the doctor, Dr. Hoopes, got onto him and ran to the store himself.

I walked into my high school. No one looked at me. I was used to that. No asked me, 'Hey Tairah, where were you for the past month?' I was used to that too. I walked invisibly to my first period class, Geometry, and sat carefully in my usual front row seat, next to Tristan, the school nerd and a bottom sucker like me. He turned to me, smiled in his geeky way, and asked if I'd done the homework; he wanted to check his work against mine. Not even my fellow bottom suckers acknowledged that I'd been gone.

See, I don't know if you've noticed this yet, but I'm not exactly popular. If the harsh beating and the lack of greetings didn't clue you in, I don't know what will.

I sighed and pulled out my math book, tugging the homework out. My mother had kept me updated on _homework_ too. I handed it to him and Tristan smiled happily, thanking me and getting to work checking his answers.

I leaned back in my chair and waited for my teacher to enter the classroom. She came in five minutes later and I went to her, handing her my absent note and the month's homework. She glanced at the note and looked at me with a worried look.

"Are you sure you should be back at school?" I nodded.

"I'll be careful, Ms. Sydnie. I'll try not to bump into anything." She smiled apprehensively and I went back to my seat. The usually empty seat on my right was now occupied by… a boy with red-blond spiky hair. He was the boy that had patched me up after that fight a month ago. Jeff… that was his name, right?

I sat quietly and tucked my homework back into my math book; Tristan had finished checking his work. I put the book under my chair and took out the book I was reading lately, the third Harry Potter. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Jeff glance up in curiosity. I forgot he was blind, and a breath that I didn't know I was holding escaped my lips in a relieved sigh.

"I thought no one sat here," he said carefully.

"No, I was just gone for the last month. I, um, had some cracked ribs," I said carefully. Recognition dawned on his face and he blushed.

"You're that girl that we helped. Tairah, right?"

"That's me," I said wistfully.

"You really th- uh, never mind. Um, you're okay? No internal bleeding or anything? That would've been bad cause- gosh, I'm starting to sound like Nudge," he added the last part under his breath and I barely heard him.

"Nudge?" I asked.

"Oh, uh, an old friend. Um, forget about it," he said nervously and I chuckled. He was cute when he got nervous. "So you're okay, right?" He prompted.

"Yep. Still a little sore, but I'm all good. Though, my mother doesn't want me walking home anymore, so she's making me get picked up in my family's car." I rolled my eyes, even thought the affect was lost on his sightless eyes.

"Good, I was scared that… never mind. Um… Your family car?"

"A limo… My father's this real important business man and I only have my permit so far, so I can't drive my own car yet."

"Oh," he said simply. "You have your own car?"

"My family is rich."

"I got that, I meant what kind of car is it?"

"Oh, it's a '67 Ford Mustang convertible." I smiled, thinking of my fifteenth birthday present.

"_Nice,_ vintage?" He grinned jealously and I realized I could stare all I wanted, he was blind and his smile was nice…

"Totally." I was glad to have someone to talk to about my car. Hell, I was glad to have someone to talk to in the first place. "How long have you been going here for school?"

"Uh, three or four days after Max and Nick um, yeah. We're all adopted siblings. Our, uh, 'mom' is Max's mom."

"Oh, that's cool… What's your adopted mom's name? My mother wants to send her a present or something for helping me out." Jeff never got the chance to answer me because Stacy interrupted us, slamming her clenched fist on my desk. I forgot, _she_ was in this class too.

"Where've you been, Leer? Hiding behind your mommy's legs?" She snarled and I sneered right back.

"It's none of your business where I've been, Mahoney," I laughed harshly, masking the stab of pain in my ribs.

"Your little friends that jumped in are gonna get it for breaking Bear's nose and bruising his ribs. He was in the hospital for a week, you know," Stacy said, wrinkling her nose as if something smelled bad in her memory. "Your little _friend_ messed his face up so bad that I had to break up with him." I rolled my eyes. Jeff was sitting quietly, listening to our conversation in interest; only I could see his clenched fists under the desk.

"That's not my problem, now is it, Mahoney? Now if you'd be so kind as to _leave me alone,_ I was just having a _civilized_ conversation with a _boy._ I bet you've never had one of those, have you, Mahoney?" She sighed in frustration and stomped off in her high heels. I laughed lightly and looked to Jeff, who was trying to relax.

"Who was _that?_ Even her voice sounded ugly," he commented.

"_That_ was Stacy Mahoney, the 'queen' of the freshman class. She was dating the lead football player or something, Bear Solhart, but not anymore because of Max's face rearranging skills. If you compared high school to an ecosystem, she's at the top of the food chain. I'm at the very bottom. She and her group feed on us lowlifes down at the bottom." Jeff nodded in understanding.

With that, class began.

~!~

Now, I'm not going to be cliché and tell you that Jeff and I had every class together and I showed him around school, because I didn't. I did, however, have fourth period with him, and that was my Study Hall class. Class let out and Jeff waited for me to gather my books. We walked out together to our lockers.

"Hey, you wanna eat lunch with Max, Nick, and me? I was- I mean _we_ were all thinking about you this past month. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to know that you're okay." Jeff had been making little slip ups like that all day, saying something about himself and then changing it to a plural, as if he was the only one worried about me. As if he was even worried about me.

"Yeah, I usually just read a book, so joining you guys will be a nice change. If Max and Nick don't mind, of course."

Jeff chuckled, as if enjoying a private joke. "Oh, they won't mind," he said mysteriously and he grinned at me again. I blushed, glad he was blind.

"Ig!" I heard a girl shout down the hall and Jeff turned. Max was sprinting to catch up with us.

"Ig?" I questioned before she could reach us.

"Iggy," he explained, "A nickname. What I usually have people call me. You can call me that, if you want." I nodded as Max reached us. Her eyes found me critically, then her eyes widened in recognition. "Max, this is—"

"Tairah, that girl we helped out, right? How are you feeling? Are your ribs better?" I smiled back at this happy girl and began walking at a leisurely pace down the hall. I saw Nick standing at the far end of the hall, tapping his foot impatiently, but he wore a smirk and was looking at me happily; I'd seen him in an earlier class.

"I'm still a little sore, but I'm mostly better. Thanks for asking, Max. If it wasn't for you and your group, I'd be much worse off."

"It was fun to fight those punks off, Tairah, trust me. They aren't still giving you trouble, are they?" I was about to say no, they backed right off, but Je- I mean Iggy spoke up.

"The main guy's ex-girlfriend is threatening her," he said and Max's eyes narrowed. "She's saying that you and Fa-Nick are gonna 'get it' from her ex-boyfriend 'Bear'." Iggy chuckled and Max's expression became darker.

"Ig, we can- just use our real names." I looked at Iggy confused, he laughed again, running a hand through his hair and spiking it again.

"Max trusts you," he said when Max and Nick (I was beginning to think that wasn't his name) were hugging down the hall. "That's rare for her to trust someone she just met off the street. You should feel special."

I smiled. "I do, Iggy. Um, real names?" I asked.

"Right. We have _real_ names, like Jeff, Nick, Arial, but we like to go by our nicknames. It'd be nice if you only called us these names to our faces, us the _real_ names when you tell all your little girlfriends about how hot Fang is."

"Nick is Fang?" Iggy nodded. "What about Max?"

"Oh, that's her real name. I don't know why she sticks with it." Down the hall, Max and Ni-Fang kissed and I stared, confused. I asked Iggy about it. "Oh yeah. That's kind of their thing. We're not _actually_ related, except for Angel and Gazzy, that's Arial and Zephyr, so Max and Fang have this _thing_ going. I find it kind of disgusting, but the other girls, Nudge, Tiffany-Krystal, and Angel find it adorable." He wrinkled his nose and took out his homemade lunch of three over stuffed sandwiches, a bag of ten or so chocolate chip cookies, and two cans of soda. I eyed his large lunch oddly and sat next to him against a wall (our high school has open lunch). Max and Fang were being all lovey-dovey to our left.

"It does seem a bit… unnatural." I agreed, taking out _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban._ I opened to my dog-eared page and read while Iggy wolfed down his large lunch. Max and Fang had lunches of equal proportions. Iggy finished three sandwiches in record time and sat quietly, munching on his cookies and sipping one of his sodas. His head cocked when he heard me turning pages.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his mouth full of cookie.

"Reading. And don't talk with food in your mouth_,_" I mentioned, turning a page in my book.

"Already finished your lunch?" He asked.

"Didn't eat."

"Why the hell not?" Max jumped into our conversation.

"Not hungry."

"How can you _not_ be hungry?" Max asked dubiously.

I shrugged. "Just not hungry."

"What are you reading?" Fang now.

"Harry Potter," I said, starting to get annoyed that these three new friends of mine wouldn't let me read.

"Take the rest of my cookies and my other drink. You should at least eat _something_, even if it is terribly unhealthy. These cookies are the best in the world." Iggy handed me his other Coke and his plastic bag of cookies. I closed my book reluctantly and took them.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I munched, blushing as Iggy grinned at me.

"She's blushing, man," Fang teased, making me blush more. Iggy laughed and I finished the rest of his lunch.

"Thanks," I mumbled again, blushing more. I took up my book to avoid more comments from Fang.

**[END: Chapter Two]**

**It is currently 12:18 AM here in the US on Monday, July 5****th****, 2010. I am awake for one simple reason. I live in a bad neighborhood in a place one friend described (adequately) as hillbilly hell. Full of people that love their country so much they're willing to keep those of us that want to sleep awake until at least three in the morning every year on July 4. I have crazy neighbors. Crazy neighbors look for any chance to party. Crazy neighbors get drunk on Independence Day. Crazy neighbors shoot off fireworks until roughly three in the morning and the police can do nothing to stop it because they're all downtown stopping the drunk drivers… One of my three dogs is deathly afraid of thunder, so fireworks scare her to death and she barks and barks and whines and whines. I am awake, waiting out the fireworks and the drunken screams of my NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS THAT WILL NOT SHUT THE HELL UP and my brontophobic Dachshund/Welsh Corgi mutt hiding her fat butt under the couch. If anyone would like to tell my neighbors to shut up in a review, it would be appreciated. If you read my notes, say so in your review.**

**Dammit… I promised shorter notes… well, I just broke a promise. Get over it.**

**REVIEW or I'll send my crazy neighbors to YOUR neighborhood.**


	3. Chapter 3

Any characters recognized from Maximum Ride by James Patterson belong to the original author.

**Chapter Three**

_First Person- Tairah_

The Saturday after I went back to school, my father was in his office when I walked by. He was doing something important, but I couldn't help but overhear his conversation.

"…Forget about it, Batchelder. There is no way I'm letting you- No, it has nothing to do with the fact that she's my daughter. It's too dangerous, they have a _mind reader_ in their midst, she'd be found out immediately. It's a hopeless mission." He paused. "Fine. Goodbye." There wasn't conversation on the other side of the door any longer.

I walked to my room, wondering what my father was talking about. He'd mentioned his daughter; as far as I knew, I was his only daughter, so it must have been me. There were footsteps outside my door and someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," I called and my father entered my room. He had his stern face on.

"Hello, Tairah," he said curtly. I nodded back to him. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Hm?" I asked politely.

"It's about my work. We have a new… branch going out, and there might be some new people in the house on and off. Don't be frightened if there are a few men through here in the next few months. It would be best if you stayed out of the house as much as possible, though. I'm sure you have a few friends you could go around with after school and on the weekends. I expect to see you home to sleep, and that is all."

I mentally rolled my eyes. I was so used to people coming through my house, I didn't even notice it anymore. The freedom he was giving me was nice, though. I nodded to my father, not daring to be disrespectful. "I understand."

"You have my permission to drive your car wherever you please, as long as Mary is with you. Purchase food with your credit card. I'm going to use the lavatory, I expect you and Mary to be gone by the time I am finished." Mary was one of our house cleaners; she always went driving with me.

I hopped up, slipping on my flip-flops and grabbing my learner permit. I was looking forward to my freedom. I grabbed my keys and handed them to Mary, telling her to bring my car to the front. She scurried away and I was sitting in the driver's seat of my vintage '67 Ford Mustang five minutes later, driving to one of my favorite places, the local horse ranch.

~!~

The horse ranch was about thirty minutes out of Meadville, Arizona, where I lived. It was huge, sprawling across one hundred acres of green Arizona land. I owned a horse there, Thunder. When I didn't have the time to be out there, a friend that lived on the ranch took care of him. I had a job leading trail rides in the summer.

I pulled into the driveway and turned to Mary as I unbuckled myself.

"You're welcome to come riding with me if you want," I suggested. Otherwise, I'd get stuck with Austin, the one who took care of Thunder while I couldn't. He happened to have a huge crush on me.

Mary shook her head politely. "I'll stay in the house, Miss. Thank you, though." I shrugged and hopped out of the car, jogging to the house. Austin was longing on the front porch, he brightened noticeably when he saw me approaching.

"Tairah, hey!" He stood and eyed my outfit, short-shorts and my favorite Relient K t-shirt. His eyes lingered a bit long on my legs. "Going riding?" I nodded.

"Is Thunder in the stables?"

"Yep, just finished exercising him. He'll be happy to see you." There was a large bang and I turned to watch a group of three grinning thirteen-year-olds and a mother approach the main house. "Think you could wait for a few minutes? Looks like we need a guide, our only one for today just went on break."

"That's fine. I'll be right back." I went and tacked up four horses for the group and put Thunder's bridle on, I would ride bareback today. I jogged back out, the five horses following me. I assigned the horses to each of the girls and swung on to Thunder with help from Austin. I kicked my shoes off.

"Watch those, will ya?" I asked him, and then I kicked Thunder into a trot and we were off.

~!~

I was plodding along the trail when the mother of the group came up beside me. She smiled over at me and I nodded back. I kept Thunder from eating the grass on the side of the trail as she spoke up.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi. Are you enjoying your ride so far? Are the girls okay back there?"

"Oh, they're fine. I just wanted someone to talk to."

"Okay then," I said, turning down a branch of the trail that would take us up a hill.

"How old are you?" She asked. Her horse, Sugar, started trotting and she pulled back on the reigns carefully, slowing her to a walk.

"I'm fifteen, ma'am. I've been riding since I was four or five. Thunder's been my horse since I was ten."

"You have impressive riding skills. My daughter Ashley is back there ranting about how awesome it is that you can ride bareback and barefoot. She's noticed that you don't even need the bridle, really. You just lean in a direction and he goes there. She really looks up to you." I blushed.

"That's very nice of your daughter to say. Tell her to keep practicing and she'll get up to my level." Going up the hill, Thunder broke into a fast trot and Sugar followed suit, falling in behind me. I could here the other horses trotting behind us. We came over the hill and found ourselves in a large meadow, the halfway point and rest stop for the trail riders. I nudged Thunder into and easy canter and turned him around to face the girls, slowing down and stopping, though Thunder pranced in place.

"We're going to take a rest here, feel free to dismount and drink some of your water. I'm going to canter Thunder around the area; if you need me, just yell. Pull your reigns over the heads of your horses and they'll stay in place." The girls except for the black haired one, I assumed she was Ashley, dismounted. I urged Thunder into an easy canter and we loped around the large meadow. I heard pounding hooves behind me and I slowed to a trot, letting who I assumed was Ashley catch up with me. She came up next to me and we both slowed to a fast walk.

"You're an amazing rider," she commented.

"Thanks, but I've been riding for ten years. I've had lots of practice." I smiled.

"How do you ride so well bareback? It's like you don't even need a bridle, too!"

"I've had Thunder," he pranced at the mention of his name. "For five years. We know each other really well." I patted his neck. We rode in silence until Thunder randomly stopped moving. We were at the edge of the forest, and Thunder raised his head in fear at the trees. Ashley's horse, Dallas did the same and skirted backwards. I instinctively squeezed tighter with my knees, holding Thunder in place. I saw a few dark shapes moving in the forest. There were a pair of glinting eyes, then all of a sudden, Thunder reared up and Dallas bolted back as five huge wolves ran out of the woods.

They were running on all fours, but they looked oddly human. They had saliva dripping from their muzzles and their beady black eyes were squinted in hate at the group. The largest one growled at a smaller one, who looked like he wanted to eat Thunder and me.

Thunder came out of his rear with me barely hanging on. He bolted away from the wolves with his ears flat against his head. Dallas was already galloping back down the trail, but Ashley got him under control.

The wolves barked and howled at us. Their barks almost sounded like a human speaking, telling us to leave the forest if we wished to stay alive. Then, they ran into the forest on the other side of the meadow, leaving Thunder and the four other horses skittish and scared.

I cantered back to the group of girls, who were all but screaming. "Mount up! We need to get back to the ranch, now," I said to everyone and they nodded eagerly. Thunder pranced nervously. Ashley made it back with Dallas. "Follow me, I'll be cantering slowly, never drop below a trot. There are wolves in the area and it's not safe for horses or humans."

We made it back to the house in record time. Austin laughed as he saw us coming up, but his grin dropped when he saw that we were riding urgently.

"What happened? No one got hurt, did they?" He asked, eyeing the group cautiously.

"Wolves, huge ones. Five of them followed us to the meadow. They spooked Thunder and Dallas." I swung down from Thunder and took my flip-flops back from Austin. I slipped them on and took Thunder's reigns, tethering him to a post so he wouldn't bolt.

"Wolves? In April? They don't come down until December," Austin said doubtfully.

"I swear, there were wolves. Give the group their money back, the wolves made several spook." Austin nodded and I left Thunder for him to cool off. I needed to get back into town and go somewhere without wild animals. The mall was sounding nice. Mary joined me and I drove away.

For some reason, I just couldn't help but think that those wolves weren't really wolves.

~!~

_Third Person- The Flock_

There was a low growl from the back door of Max's mother's house. Angel screamed when she looked out her back window.

"Erasers!" She screamed, running to Max, who was watching a movie with Fang. Max sat bolt upright and looked to Angel.

"I thought they were all—"

"Dead," Fang finished for her, standing and clenching his fists. Angel just shook her head and gave them a wide-eyed look.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to teach 'em who's boss, right?" Max said. She called the rest of her flock and gave them the plan.

Then, they went into the backyard and faced the twenty erasers with harsh looks and keen fists.

**[END: Chapter Three]**

**And there you have it. Why are the Erasers back? What's going on? Keep reading!**

**REVIEW.**


	4. Chapter 4

Any characters recognized from the _Maximum Ride_ book series are the property of James Patterson.

**Chapter Four**

_First Person- Tairah_

"What happened?" I asked Iggy in our fourth period study hall class. His arm was wrapped neatly in white bandages from his wrist to his elbow and he had a black eye. His shoes and jeans were dusted with what looked like soot.

"Um… I had an accident with a kitchen knife over the weekend," he motioned to his arm. "Fang threw a baseball at me to catch, but it hit me in the eye because I'm blind, ya know." I could tell he was lying, but I didn't ask. I'd seen Fang earlier, and he was scratched up badly as well. He'd given me the same kind of story about household things turning against him.

"And the black stuff on your shoes and jeans? I suppose you walked through a fire as well?" I joked and Iggy ran a hand through his hair again, smiling guiltily, as if I'd hit the nail on the head.

"Actually, I got mixed up with a bomb. Um, Gazzy and I wanted to test one of our new explosives and it worked a little _too_ well. We weren't expecting…" He nervously rubbed the back of his neck and laughed a little. I grinned.

"Well, I'm kicked out of my house for the next month or so. I'm allowed back to sleep and that's it. I went horseback riding on Saturday and got ambushed by five wolves." Iggy froze when I said wolves.

"Wolves?" He asked tensely. "What did they look like?"

"They were huge and all grey. They looked rabid or something, black beady eyes and saliva dripping down their snouts. Really scary." Iggy became even paler, if that was possible.

"You should tell Max about that, Tairah. She takes a particular, um, _interest_ in wolves." His tone was awkward, but I dismissed it. "You said you got kicked out of your house? Why?"

"My dad is this huge business man. He's making some deal with some guy and doesn't want me around the house."

He nodded. "Ah, makes sense. If you want, you can chill with us after school. Dr. M won't mind." I blushed at the idea of going to Iggy's house.

"I-I'll think about it, um… I brought a lunch today, so you don't have to share yours with me again," I commented, making Iggy grin; I caught myself staring once again.

"That's good, but I brought an extra sandwich just for you today." He shrugged. "Guess I'll just have to eat it…" he faked being sad and sighed.

"That's just too bad," I said, laughing at his 'dejected' expression.

"Yeah… I even made it, just for you. I'd hate to eat it."

I rolled my eyes, "I rolled my eyes, Ig. It's fine, I had our cook make me something."

"Your _cook?_" He asked doubtfully.

"Yeah. His name is Paul and he's very nice to me." Iggy huffed and mumbled something about rich people. "What was that?" I asked with an offended air.

"Nothing, Tairah. Absolutely nothing," he said with another grin, dazing me. He seemed to have figured out that I always lost my train of thought when he smiled at me.

"What… um…" I said intelligently, "Oh, it's time for lunch, come on."

~!~

"Aw, come on, pretty boy! Upset that I messed your face up?" Max was snarling at Bear, who was glaring at her. From the looks of things, he hadn't attacked yet. Iggy turned to me.

"What's going on?"

"Max and Bear are at each other's throats. Um, it looks like they're going to fight." I stared on as Max faked like she was going to punch Bear and he shied away.

"Oh, is the big boy scared?" Max teased and punched him for real this time, in the stomach. "Leave my friend alone if you know what's good for you," she growled into his ear and joined us. Fang came up behind her.

"Max, picking fights is bad, you can get in big trouble for it," he said, wrapping his arms around her stomach. I rolled my eyes at the couple.

"I don't care, he had it coming to him," Max said with a cocky smirk. Fang hugged her tighter.

"And that's why I'm dating you," he said, grinning. It was the first time I'd ever seen Fang smile; he was even cuter when he did, but not as distracting as Iggy. I rolled my eyes again and motioned to the pair.

"Let's eat." We all sat and took out our lunches. Max was sitting next to me.

"Hey, Max. Um, Iggy said that I should tell you about something that happened to me on Saturday," I said when Max had finished her three sandwiches.

"Yeah?" She looked to Iggy, who was listening while staring blankly across the hallway.

"Um, I was out horseback riding and me and my group got followed and almost attacked by five wolves," I said, gauging her reaction. She seemed to tense up and her eyes narrowed.

"Big wolves?" She asked. Fang looked over now.

"Yeah, um… they spooked our horses. Mine reared and another bolted."

"What did they look like?"

"They were all grey, no white markings like other wolves. They looked rabid; they had black beady eyes. They were foaming-at-the-mouth. They jumped out at me and loped through the clearing we were in."

"They were on all fours?" Fang clarified, sounding surprised.

"Um, yeah," I said in a 'no duh' tone. "What kind of wolves run around on two legs?"

Max turned to Fang and they started speaking in hushed tones. I caught the words "eraser", "here", and "more", but I didn't ask Max and Fang why they were talking about office supplies. After five minutes of hushed conversation, Max turned to me.

"Do you think you could come to our house this afternoon? Fang and I think it would be… safer with the Era- wolves in the area."

~!~

Max and her family lived in a quaint house in the suburbs of Meadville, Arizona. The house looked small on the outside, but when I went in, I realized it had five bedrooms and a finished basement, along with an attic.

Max, Fang, Iggy and I all climbed out of my car; I'd given them a ride since they usually walked home. I left the keys in the ignition for Mary.

"You can go do whatever, Mary. I'll call you when I need to be taken home." She nodded and moved to the driver's seat.

I followed Max into the living room with Iggy staying in the kitchen to make a snack. The house appeared to be empty.

Max and Fang relaxed together on a love seat; I sat on the couch. "Where are the younger kids?" I asked.

"Mom has to go pick them up from their elementary school and Ella, that's my biological sister, from middle school. They'll be back around four," Max explained. The clock read three P.M.

Iggy appeared with a huge bowl of nachos for all of us to share. Fang took it from him and set it on the coffee table. Iggy came and sat on the couch next to me, but not too close.

"How long can you stay over?" Fang asked with a mouthful of chips, so it sounded more like muffled grunts. He repeated his question when his mouth was empty.

"As long as I like. I'm not needed at home until it's time to sleep. I got kicked out, so to speak. My father is this important businessman and doesn't want me interrupting his work," I explained, taking a chip.

"Yeah, you told me about that in study hall today, right?" Iggy asked.

"I did. He owns this company called Itex; have you guys ever heard of it?" Max and Fang exchanged looks while Iggy just turned his head to 'look' at me with a confused look.

"We've heard of it," Fang finally said, keeping his voice flat. Max nodded.

"What did I say wrong?" I asked.

"What? You didn't do anything wrong, Tairah," Iggy said quickly with a smile.

"No, I mean, I mention that my father works for Itex and you guys get all uncomfortable. What is it with Itex?" They all went rigid as I said 'Itex' again. "See? There it is again! What do you have against Itex?"

Max shook her head. "It's nothing, Tairah. Nothing that would concern you, at least. Um… didn't they get busted for doing unorthodox experiments on children a few months ago?" Max asked with an odd air of pride.

"Father didn't become the owner of the company until a few months ago… he said something about kids storming the plants all over the world, but it was only a minor setback… I've heard the experiment claims, but my father is just an honest businessman. He'd never support giving kids wings or making humans transform into wolves. I don't even think we're at that point in science."

Max shook her head. "You'd be surprised, Tairah. Uh, should we get started on homework? It's harder with all the younger ones around…" Max artfully changed the subject and took out her backpack. We all did our homework and I pretended to forget the previous conversation, but I tucked it away into the back of my mind.

~!~

_Third Person_

"Steven, think logically about it. We _need_ to know where they are at all times. Since the chip in Max was taken out, and the others malfunctioned, there's no other way to know. It's necessary for us to have a spy. They're in the area, and from my sources, _your_ daughter has already befriended Max, Fang, and Iggy; the oldest three in the group."

"Could we please call them by their experiment numbers? I'm not used to all this 'Max, Fang and Iggy' business." Mr. Leer said, pacing his office. Jeb Batchelder looked at him pacing.

"You aren't worried about how dangerous it is, you don't want us to use Tairah," he said knowingly.

"That's not it, Batchelder! You know I think it's too dangerous. What if the operation goes wrong and she dies? Where is your precious mission then?"

"We are _sure_ it will work, Steven. Don't worry."

"There is no way on earth that I'll agree to your stupid ideas, Batchelder. Leave," Mr. Leer commanded, but Jeb Batchelder stayed put.

"It's obvious that Tairah _will_ become good friends with subjects one through six. I'll give you a month to think on it and tell Tairah what is being planned. At the end of the month, whether or not she knows what is going on, she'll be taken and operated on. She'll be given the best training on how to block mind readers and will join subjects one through six as a spy for Itex."

~!~

_First Person- Tairah_

I walked into my house at ten thirty, ready for sleep after being talked to death by Nudge. I slumped into my living room and threw my backpack to the ground by a couch when I looked up and almost screamed.

My living room had turned into a photo shoot for male models. There were only five, but my mind was swimming with all the good looks surrounding me.

"Hi," I mumbled, not really wondering why there were such good-looking men in my house; Father's guests were usually old men. They all grinned wolfishly at me and a few said 'Hey' back.

I slumped up to my room and fell asleep immediately, dreaming of good-looking men that transformed into huge wolves that attacked Max and her makeshift family.

I almost laughed at the absurdity of my dreams when I woke, but it wasn't until I remembered Iggy looking straight at me, meeting my eyes with his sightless ones, and saying 'you have to help' that I started to think the dream was a little more than a fabrication of my boring life.

**Well… review. That last paragraph was cheesy, I know.**


	5. Chapter 5

Any characters recognized from _Maximum Ride_ are the property of James Patterson.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

_First Person- Tairah_

"ZOMG, Tairah! You're here again! Are you going to be here every day after school? 'Cause that would be really cool, you know? If you did, then you could help me pick outfits and we could go shoe shopping together and we'd have so much fun, I just know it!" Nudge yelled when she saw me sitting with Max, Fang, and Iggy in their living room again. It was Friday, and I had been coming to the Martinez's house for almost two weeks. In fact, this Monday would make it officially two weeks. Call me a freak for counting, but really. What else can I do with my time?

"Nudge, she's been coming here for two weeks. She's gonna be here for a while," Max said in her leader tone. Max had quickly become the one girlfriend I had. We confided everything in each other. She didn't want me to tell her any secrets that were too dark, though. She mentioned something about it getting out of her head, even if she didn't say it.

I'd gotten used to odd comments like that coming from my new friends. Overall, they were just… odd people. I invited them to come swimming with me, but Max practically yelled no. What was even weirder was that later that day, we had water wars because of the heat. I never had a sleepover at Max's house. She would never allow it. One time, I caught her talking, but there was no one else in the room. She would say something, pause a moment, and then respond.

Iggy was worse. I asked him a few days ago how he went blind, and all he said was, "Bastards" and changed the subject. Even though he was blind, he seemed to know what color hair I had without my telling him, and where I was all the time. It kind of freaked me out, but I was getting used to them.

Nudge. Man, that girl could talk. All I had to do was say a certain word, and off she went on a rant. I would nod occasionally, and Nudge would just keep herself entertained. She seemed to be the least… freaky of the bunch, but that doesn't mean I didn't notice anything odd about her. One time, I slid a can of soda towards her, and it stopped just out of her reach. She reached for it, and it slid right to her hand.

Angel was easily the scariest. She talked to her dog as if it understood her, and the dog nodded right along. She could always tell what I was thinking… and sometimes, I felt myself doing or saying things I would never do or say. She seriously freaked me out.

Fang was… interesting. He was quiet. At times, he would be sitting next to me, I would look away, and he wasn't there anymore. Then, I'd look back, and there he was, as if he never left.

The Gasman was… well… he was unique. As his name suggests, you don't want to be in an airtight room with him. Ever. Max told me a story about a time when she was in a submarine with him. I sympathized with her.

Back to the present, I was currently watching television with everyone. It was Disney Channel (yuck) to entertain the younger kids. It was Hannah Montana right now. Max, Fang, Iggy and I were sitting on the couch together; the younger kids were sitting at our feet.

"This show has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever seen," Max whispered to me.

"No kidding," I replied, becoming hyper-aware of Iggy's leg pressed against mine. The four of us barely fit on the couch. "There was never this kind of television when we were growing up…"

"Um… yeah. It's really, eh, stupid," Max agreed awkwardly. She always said things like that when I mentioned growing up normally.

"Do you wanna ditch the kids and go talk in your room or something?" I asked and Max nodded gratefully. She untangled herself from Fang and came with me to Max's room.

"Oh, my gosh! That is so much better!" Max yelled once we had reached her room and shut the door. Max sat on her bed and I on the floor.

"So what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

Max shrugged. "I don't know… You're the one that suggested we come up here."

I grinned evilly. "How about… we talk about… Fang." Max blushed bright red and stared at the ceiling. I sat with her on the bed and lightly punched her arm. "Hey, come on! Tell me about him. I don't know him that well."

Max grinned in embarrassment. "Well, he's quiet."

"No duh," I said.

"And he's really amazing. I'm already _sure_ he's 'the one', you know? There's not anyone else out there for me." Max had a dreamy look on her face and I grinned.

"Are you guys really serious? Like, does he tell you he loves you and all?" I got so excited over things like this… I was such a girl.

"He's not really one to say much about that kind of stuff… but I love him, and I know he loves me. Enough about me, though. What's going on with you and Iggy?" Max spoke with a scheming tone and she gave me her 'I know what you're thinking' look.

"Me and Iggy?" I asked while blushing. "I have no clue what you're talking about!"

"Oh, come on, Tairah. I see how you're always staring at him and how he grins at you. You can tell me, you know," Max said, punching me lightly in the arm now.

"Okay, okay… So I think he's cute, but that's _it_. I don't know him well enough to know if he's worth dating, okay?"

Max grinned evilly at me. "So I got you to admit it…" Max looked like she was going to say something else, but there was an ear piercing scream from downstairs. Max got up and ran to the door with inhuman speed and motioned for me to follow.

When we reached the downstairs, Angel and Nudge were both staring outside with absolute terror. I followed their line of sight and saw huge wolves, like the ones that tried to attack me in that clearing, standing on two legs with… wings sprouting out of their backs. There were five of them, and five of them had guns. They were motioning for all of us to come outside and fight them, it looked like.

Fang came to Max's side. "They showed up a few minutes ago. Dropped out of the sky." Would it kill him to speak in complete sentences?

Max nodded. "They've got guns. When we get outside, get up in the air. If we don't they're going to shoot us from the air," Max announced to her 'family'. She and Iggy turned to me. "Tairah, you stay inside," they said in unison and burst out the back door before I had a chance to argue. I watched from the window as the wolf men looked at Max and her 'family' hungrily before using their wings to launch themselves into the air.

I watched in amazement as Max and her 'family' did the same.

Wait. They had… wings?

**[End: Chapter 5]**

**And there ya go. I know it was short. But it was important, no? Next chapter will be longer. And I know this story is moving right along, but this is kind of a prequel, if you will, to a total re-write of the Maximum Ride novels… like, the actual Itex plot will come back.**

**REVIEW.**


	6. Chapter 6

I'm back! Oh my gosh! I'm ALIVE!

I don't own Maximum Ride.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

I stared. Wings? Really? What were they, half bird?

"Actually, we're _two percent_ bird, Tairah," Angel remarked, as if she could hear my thoughts. "Oh, and I can."

I continued to stare as the rest of Max's little 'family' shuffled awkwardly into their living room. Iggy plopped down on the couch and huffed. I seemed to have walked into the living room as well, but I don't remember how I got there.

"She's staring?" Iggy asked, crossing his arms and glaring as best he could at the carpeted floor.

"Yeah," Fang replied curtly.

"Typical," Iggy spat, looking quite unhappy.

Max sat next to Fang on the love seat and motioned to the floor in front of her. "Sit," she directed at me. I was too shell-shocked to retort, as was my usual fashion. I sat cross-legged in front of Max, but I was still able to see Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, Fang, and Angel.

"What's going on?" I finally asked and Iggy barked a laugh.

"How about what's _been going_ on, Tairah. Your daddy's the head of Itex; shouldn't you know _all about_ us?" He asked cynically and Max glared over at him.

"I'll take care of this, Ig," she said, voicing her leadership over him. She turned back to me. "We're human-avian hybrids, Tairah. I'm sure you've heard the stories?"

I nodded meekly. "I always thought they were bitter competitors trying to get a leg-up on Itex. I guess I was wrong…"

Again, Iggy laughed sharply. The sound was full of bitterness. "No kidding, _Tairah,_ you were wrong about so many thi—"

"Iggy," Max said again, cutting him off. "Knock it off before I knock _you_ out the second story window onto a rose bush." Iggy instantly quieted and glared at something near his knees. "Sorry, Tairah. We were… taken as babies and experimented on by evil scientists from Itex. We don't know why, or how, they did it, but they grafted avian DNA into us. They kept us there until my," Max cringed and shivered here; Fang put a careful arm around her shoulders. "My father, Jeb, set us free when Iggy, Fang, and I were ten. Nudge was seven, Gazzy was four, and Angel was two.

"We were living on our own for a while, and then Jeb disappeared. We survived for a while, and then… Erasers, those big wolf things you just saw us fighting, came and captured Angel. We had to go and rescue her.

"One of the erasers was my half brother, Ari. He… he died about a year ago." Max stopped talking and everyone, save for Iggy, watched my expression carefully.

"I can read minds," Angel said randomly, breaking the awkward silence that had engulfed us.

Max nodded. "I have… I have a voice in my head. It's annoying. It tells me to 'Save the world, Max.' and whatnot. I'm trying to save said 'world' but it never tells me what I'm really supposed to do."

"I can draw metals towards me," Nudge started, "Like that one time when you passed me a soda over the table but it didn't quite reach me and I reached out for it and it slid into my hand and you gave me that really weird look? Yeah, that's one power I have. And I can hack computers really easily, like once, I hacked into Fang's laptop and oh my God I wasn't supposed to say that out loud I really hope that Fang doesn't kill me now mph—" I clapped my hand over Nudge's mouth.

"Wait, y'all have _powers?_" I asked incredulously.

They all nodded. Iggy was still staring on, but he nodded as well. "I'm blind, yeah, but I'm good with matches, fire, things like that. I can feel colors, I can see the color white, and things silhouetted against something white."

"I go invisible," Fang added quietly.

"Plus, besides his fashion sense, he plays a mean harmonica," Gazzy added, grinning. "I can imitate voices," he said in a perfect imitation of my voice. Everyone else laughed at what I assumed was an inside joke.

I eyed The Gasman carefully. "That's creepy." I turned back to everyone. "So, my father's company did this to you?" I asked.

They all nodded. "They did _this_ to me as well," Iggy said, motioning to his sightless eyes; his tone was full of hatred.

I turned to look fully at Iggy. "I-I'm sorry, Ig."

He shrugged, seemingly placated by my apology. "It isn't your fault. _They_ did this to me, not you." He still seemed a little miffed, but he stayed silent, now.

I turned back to the others. "Really, though, this is crazy. Why would they do something like this?"

"We don't know, Tairah," Fang said in his deep, but quiet voice. "It would be best if you didn't tell anyone about this. _Especially_ anyone in your house. Your father cannot know we're here."

I nodded quickly. "Of course, Fang. I'd never tell _anyone_ in my house about this."

All of a sudden, my phone rang in my pocket. It blasted "This Road" by Seabird and I put the phone to my ear, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Hello?" I asked.

My father's collected, yet slightly irritated and panicked voice answered me. "Where are you, Tairah? I need you home, _now._ There's something of the utmost importance I need to speak with you about."

I smiled. "Relax; I'm at a friend's house. I'll get Mary over here and I'll be home in five, okay?"

He seemed even more agitated on the other line. "Fine, Tairah, but I need you home as soon as possible. It's very important." Then he hung up.

"Um… My dad needs me at home, guys. I guess I'll see you Monday at school." I started to leave, but Iggy grabbed my hand with surprising accuracy and pulled me back to him; my face collided with his chest and he pushed me back quickly.

"You know Max's cell number?" He asked quickly, looking at something near my eyes.

"Yeah, of course, Ig. Why?" I smiled, not knowing why he was so worried.

"If something, _anything_ happens, call us, okay? If you get attacked now, it's our fault and we'll help you out. Be… be safe, Tairah." He spoke with urgency and I grinned back at him.

"Alright, Iggy." I kissed his cheek quickly, making his pale face flush bright red. "Thanks for worrying about me. I'll see you all later."

* * *

"Father? I'm here!" I shouted, opening the door to my house. The butler, Jake, appeared and rubbed his hands together anxiously.

"The master is in his study. He wishes to speak with you immediately, Miss."

I grinned at him easily and slung my purse over my shoulder. "For the last time, Jake, call me Tairah. I don't go for this 'Miss' shit." Jake nodded furiously and motioned up the stairs, telling me to go to Father now.

I knocked on the door to his study and he answered quickly. "Come in," he said, turning to see me coming in. "Oh, Tairah, good. I need you to sit and listen _very_ carefully to what I have to say."

I complied and sat in a high backed, over-stuffed leather chair. "What's this about, Father?"

"Do _not_ interrupt, Tairah," he snapped and I fought the urge to make a sarcastic retort. "This is about your… friends. I believe their names are Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel?"

I nodded. "That is correct." I easily hid my unease and realized that my phone wasn't on silent; I quickly pulled it out when Father wasn't looking and put it on vibrate.

"From my sources, you now know all about their… abilities. Is that correct?" He was pacing now, his hands folded behind his back.

I straightened my shirt and fidgeted with my purse that was still over my shoulder. "Yes, sir."

"And what abilities do they have?"

"Um…"

"What?"

"They have… wings… sir," I mumbled, looking down.

"You're not in trouble, Tairah," he said, his voice softened considerably.

My head snapped up. "What?"

"Quite the opposite, actually. I trust that you know _who_, exactly, did this to them?"

"They… they told me that Itex did," I said, carefully watching my father's facial expression.

"That's correct, Tairah. Itex _did_ create Max and her 'flock' of sorts. Itex is, despite their petty beliefs, using Max and her little flock," he spoke Max's name with extreme disgust, "As pawns in our game. We allowed Jeb to take them away, and now we have a voice implanted in Max's head, telling her to save the world, but it's all for our benefit. She'll eventually clear the way for Itex to rule the world's economy; we will have control of all nuclear warfare. 'Saving the world' is just a cover for our ulterior motives. If she _were_ going to 'save the world' or something pointless like that, it would be from herself.

"Honestly, I'd rather not deal with Max and her stupid little flock. If I had my way, I'd have them all terminated at a snap of my fingers." He snapped his fingers to prove his point. "But Max's biased father, Jeb, is standing against me and he has half the company behind him, so I _must_ do this, if I want to follow through with this.

"The reason, Tairah, that I called you here, is to inform you that _you_ are our most important playing piece. You're friends with Max and her 'flock'; they trust you. I'd rather not do this, but it's necessary. In two weeks time, Jeb will come and take you to a special facility in California. There, they will graft wings onto your back and you will be given explicit training in self-defense: both mental and physical. After that, you will be sent back here, and you are to travel with Max and her flock, reporting to Itex on your whereabouts and what the Flock's intentions are. Do you understand?"

I knew when to go along with what my father was telling me, and this was definitely one of those times. I nodded and smiled sweetly at my father. "Of course, Father. Anything for your company."

**[End: Chapter Six]

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And that's that. Tell me what you thought.

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	7. Chapter 7

**Hm… Any characters from Maximum Ride are the property of Mr. James Patterson. (Moonsparrow: Don't think I've forgotten. You'll show up for a chapter. Just not this one…)

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**Chapter Seven**

"Of course, there will be severe pain involved in the operation," Father said, pacing his office once again. "We have the facilities to minimize the pain, however."

I nodded my head and smiled sweetly again. "Pain is not an issue, Father."

"Good, good. I cannot be dealing with whiny teenagers… You may leave, now, Tairah." Father dismissed me and I left quietly, hiding the fact that I was freaking out on the inside. I rushed to my room and shut the door behind me, tugging my phone out of my pocket. I fell onto my bed and found Max's phone number. I pressed 'call' and put the phone to my ear, tapping my foot impatiently.

"Yeah?" Max's voice answered on the first ring.

"Can I come over? It's urgent." I made sure that my tone relayed nothing to people that might be listening in.

"What? Were you attacked?" I heard loud yells on the other end and a crash as I assumed the phone was snatched and dropped.

Iggy started yelling at me through the phone, now. "Tairah? Are you alright?" His voice was panicked.

I smiled tightly at his tone. "I'm… fine, Iggy. I just need to come over. Is that alright?"

There was a pause and then Iggy spoke again. "Of course."

"Thanks, Ig. I'll be there in five minutes… Bye." I slipped on my black flip-flops and headed downstairs, where I found the keys to my car. I called Mary down and we started out the door, but one of the oddly good-looking men that was living in my house for the time being stopped me by grabbing my elbow.

"Where ya goin', sweetheart?" He growled. I noticed the bruises around his face, but didn't say anything about them.

"The mall, punk, and I'm not your sweet _anything_," I snarled back, jerking my arm away from him. "If my father asks, I'm going to be back in a while."

* * *

"Sit down," Max said to me for the second time today, except Iggy sat next to me this time. It looked like he wanted to shake me and make sure I was okay, but he, thankfully, restrained himself.

"What's up?" Fang asked, being his usual calm-and-collected self.

"My father wants me to spy on you," I stated bluntly, gauging their reactions carefully.

Max was the first to respond. "_What?_"

"He… he wants me to be 'captured' by 'evil scientists' who want to graft wings on to my back. He said they'd train me for a while and then I'd come back and travel with y'all, reporting to Itex where we were and what we were doing. Something about a chip in your arm, Max, getting deactivated."

The entire room was silent; every pair of eyes, except for Iggy's, were on me in terror. "Don't worry so much, she's not going to," Angel broke the silence with a girlish giggle. The relief around the room was almost tangible; I felt like I could cut it with a knife.

Next to me, Iggy stiffened and looked over in my direction. "I'm _not_ letting them put wings on you," he declared, "It hurts like hell."

I shook my head at him, and then realized he couldn't see it. "Father says I don't have a choice. They're going to do it either way."

"We could stop them," Iggy said, clenching his fists. "You don't _want_ wings, right?"

I shook my head. "Of course not!"

"We could stop them from taking you," Max suggested, spitting out the word 'them'.

Fang placed a calm hand on her shoulder. "They would just take us as well. Think about how many erasers are probably in her house."

I paled as something hit me. "Are erasers really good looking guys when they aren't wolf-ish?"

"Yeah, they are. They look like they could be male models or something. They always get a bunch of stares from girls when they start stalking us. Like this one time in New York when they were following us, I saw all these girls—" Fang rose and placed his hand over her mouth, shaking his head.

"There's definitely ten or so in my house, and I think I saw a few bus-loads leaving for a hotel yesterday night. It'd probably be best if you _didn't_ try to stop them. They'd rip y'all to shreds," I said, looking around at everyone.

"Does your dad know that we're here?" Iggy asked, sounding tense.

"He does. But he said that he's not going to make a move on you until I'm all decked out with wings and stuff…" I said, running a hand through my hair nervously.

"You said there were _bus loads_ of erasers?" Max asked carefully.

I nodded. "Yeah, they were _everywhere_ earlier at home."

"I thought they were all dead…" Iggy said in confusion.

"Well," Max said, clapping her hands and stood. "I guess there's only one thing we can do."

I looked to her. "What's that?"

"Teach you to fight."

* * *

"I've already taken some self-defense classes, Max," I said, shifting uncomfortably in a pair of her basketball shorts and a t-shirt that belonged to Iggy. None of Max's shirts were clean and apparently, my three-hundred dollar jeans that I hated weren't good 'workout' clothes. I was actually looking forward to ripping those jeans; they were uncomfortably tight and the ugliest shade of light/puke green.

"And you couldn't take down those guys that trapped you… why?" She asked, putting her hair up in a ponytail. I looked away. "Exactly. Plus, the things that we fight are _much_ stronger than your average high school bully. Erasers could snap that Bear guy in half like that." She snapped her fingers to prove her point.

"You guys were beating those erasers, though… So does that mean…" I let my voice trail off as I looked up to Max, who was standing by the door to her room, ready to head into the backyard for my 'lessons'.

She nodded with a smug look. "They're about evenly matched with us, but we can usually take them down in a heartbeat."

I nodded, a little scared of her, now. "Let's go. I'm ready to get through with this."

Fang and Iggy were waiting for us in the backyard; the younger ones were inside, too tired to help me learn hand-to-hand combat. I was a little wary of doing this. Why did I have to learn this _now_ when people at the school were going to teach me anyway? I didn't really see the point, but I knew that what Max said was law around here, so I didn't question it.

"Okay," Max said, "We're gonna start with a simple punch, block, and counter. Fang's gonna try to punch me, but I'm gonna block it, after that, I'm going to twist his arm around his back. Then, you and Iggy are gonna try it."

"Okay," I said, and my training began.

* * *

"Are you feeling okay?" Iggy asked when our 'fight lessons' were over. "Nothing broken, right? Your ribs aren't still hurting, are they?"

I relaxed back on the couch and stretched my aching muscles. "I'm fine, Iggy. Don't worry so much."

He paused for a minute, stretching his own arms above his head. "Sorry. It just seemed like Max was taking it a little hard on you."

"I'm sure she can do much worse than give me a few bruises."

"And don't you forget it!" Max yelled from the kitchen, where she was 'talking' to Fang. The kissing noises coming from said kitchen were just loud enough for me to hear.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Do they do that all the time?"

Iggy sighed from his seat next to me. "Only when they're 'alone'." Iggy made air quotes around the word. "But I caught them going at it on a video. I can't see it, but Gaz told me it was _really_ disgusting," he finished in a whisper, leaning close to my ear. I shivered from the feeling of his lips on my ear lobe and pulled back from him, not bothering to look away because he couldn't see my blush.

"You wanna help me with my chemistry homework?" I asked Iggy, changing the subject easily. I had accidentally left my backpack here when Father called me home earlier, and I needed to finish the worksheet the teacher gave us.

Iggy grinned over at me. "Chemistry _is_ my best subject."

* * *

"And then you add all the numbers from the different orbitals together, and you get the amount of electrons in the certain energy level," Iggy finished, staring carefully at the worksheet. It was printed on white paper, so he could see the words if he concentrated. Of course, some of the words were foreign to him, since he just barely knew how to read when They blinded him. Yes. Capitol 'T' in 'they' for the Whitecoats, as Max told me they were called.

I blinked in confusion at the page. "This makes absolutely no sense. When will I ever need to know about quantum numbers?"

Iggy chuckled. "When the Whitecoats decide to make us work on their experiments for them," he joked.

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes. "Like _that's_ going to happen."

Iggy smiled and handed me the worksheet. "Was that the last question?"

I nodded, but realized he couldn't see it. "Um, yeah. Thanks for helping me, Iggy."

"It's no problem, Tairah. I'm always happy to help you."

I smiled back at him. "I'm glad you're willing to help. Otherwise, I'd be failing chemistry."

We were silent for a few minutes as I put all my books into my backpack. "Tairah?" He asked when I had stopped fidgeting with my things.

I looked over to find him nervously bouncing his leg up and down and staring at the white wall across from him blankly. "Yeah?" I asked, tucking my hair behind my ears.

His eyes turned in my general direction. "I'm scared."

"About?" I prompted, starting to worry.

"About… about what _they_ are gonna do to you." He shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"What do you mean, Iggy? They know what they're doing. It'll work." I spoke with bravado, trying to cheer him up. To be honest, I didn't think this whole thing was going to work out.

"That's not what I'm talking about, Tair," he said, shortening my name. "They… they _do_ stuff to you there. Horrible stuff. They threatened to dissect Angel's brain, and they keep you in a dog crate. They tried to 'improve' my night vision, and I ended up blind for life. I- I don't want you to experience that. Can't you convince your dad to make someone else Itex's 'servant'?"

I leaned my head on the wall behind us and sighed, staring at the ceiling. "You've never met my father, Iggy. He's stubborn as a mule."

Iggy sighed. "That's what I figured… I just… I just want you to be alright," he said awkwardly, leaning back on the couch with me.

I reached over and quietly took his hand, squeezing it lightly. "I'll be fine, Iggy. Trust me."

In the back of mind, I couldn't help but think differently.

**[End: Chapter Seven]

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**Pretend all this is in bold…**

*is killed by Erasers wielding machine guns* You want to see your author die? Sure you do. Go read _Here and There_ by Aquapolartop. It's an Iggy/OC story, and it's AWESOME. I mean… it's like, so much better than this. SO much better. I love it, even though the sole purpose of my character in the story is to be killed by erasers. Granted, I'm not showing up in the story for a little while, but I'll be there. And I'll be killed. It's gonna be _awesome._

**And now, I want you to review, since almost no one did last chapter.**

**REVIEW.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Rawr. That means I love you in dinosaur! And I do love you guys, even though I've been gone for so long!**

**I've discovered something. No one reads this. At all. Should I change the summary? Hm… Well, it appears as if I'm talking to no one since NO ONE FREAKING READS THIS STORY.**

***coughs* Ahem. I don't own Maximum Ride.

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**Chapter Eight**

Fourth period study hall with Iggy. No, I'm not blushing. Well… maybe I am. You'll never know.

Anyway, we were just sitting there in the classroom, talking quietly. "Angel wants to talk to you today," Iggy said from the seat next to me.

"What about?" I asked, a little wary. I didn't particularly like the youngest member of the flock.

Iggy shook his head. "She's probably gonna teach you how to block mind readers or something. She's one herself, you know, so it'll probably come in handy." He grinned. "Maybe you could, uh, teach me how to block her?" He asked, nudging me with his elbow.

"I'm not a very good teacher, Ig," I replied, laughing quietly.

"But you can still try, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay."

"You rolled your eyes at me, didn't you?"

"You know me too well," I said, just as the bell for lunch rang.

"Come on, let's go," Iggy said impatiently, getting up quickly and grabbing his backpack from the floor.

"You teenage guys, always too eager to eat. I'm coming." I grabbed my backpack and purse and walked with Iggy to our lockers.

"You brought lunch again today?" Iggy asked, almost running into the gym teacher; I pulled him out of the way just in time.

"Of course." I smiled and opened my locker, shoving away my books and grabbing my lunch.

"Good," he said, turning with me down the hall to where their group always ate lunch.

"Oh _great,"_ I mumbled, letting my hair fall into my face. "_Stacy_ and her new posse of guys are walking towards us."

Iggy breathed heavily through his nose, walking closer to me. His hand brushed mine quickly before he slung his arm around my shoulders in a protective stance. I relaxed under his arm and passed the group easily, smiling cheekily at Stacy as she tried to glare at me. We made it to our lunch spot and I ducked out of Iggy's arm regretfully, Max and Fang weren't here and I didn't want to be teased for it.

Iggy and I sat, waiting for Max and Fang, who arrived with a new girl in tow. She had mid-neck length brown-layered hair, but the bottom layer was died black. Her dark blue-silver eyes were taking in her surroundings, studying Iggy and me carefully.

Max pushed her forward because she wasn't speaking up. "This is Twyla. She stood up to some bully last period and I decided to talk to her. She's new."

She smiled shyly at me, putting all her weight on one foot and resting the other on its tip. "Hi."

"Hey, I'm Tairah." I smiled at her from my seat on the floor.

"She's shy," Max explained when Twyla simply sat down across from me.

I nodded, then turned to Iggy. "We didn't have chemistry homework, did we?"

Iggy laughed. "I helped you with it, remember?"

* * *

"Hi, Angel. Iggy said you had something to talk to me about today?" I asked when Angel walked into the living room.

She smiled creepily at me. _I do._

"And what's that?" I wasn't aware that she was answering me in my head, but the others around the room didn't give me weird looks.

_You need to learn how to block a mind reader._ _And please think your answers back to me._

I rolled my eyes at her, and she smiled cutely at me. _And how do I block a mind reader?_ I thought back to her.

_Think of one thing and only that one thing. It's important that you're unable to get distracted. Try thinking of something you can see._ Angel sat across the room from me. _I'll try to get in your head, and you try to think of _only_ one thing._

I focused on the pencil in Iggy's, thinking only about it. _How was that?_

_Not bad… you could use some practice… but Iggy wants to talk to you now. I'll leave._ Angel left my mind and Iggy plopped next to me with a bag of chips.

"Hey, you want some chips?" he asked, pushing the bag toward me.

I shook my head. "No thanks, I'm not hungry."

Iggy laughed. "You will be if this 'give you wings' thing works," he said through a mouthful. "We're always hungry," he finished awkwardly, looking pointedly at Angel as she sat in the middle of the room and turned the TV on.

"I'm not going to leave, Iggy," she said, turning the volume on Disney channel up higher.

Iggy sighed. "Do— do you wanna go up to my room for a little bit? There was something I wanted to talk to you about, and I wanted it to be down here, but _Angel_ doesn't want to leave…" Iggy trailed off and stared at his hands awkwardly.

I grinned. "I'd love to go up to your room, Iggy," I said, standing and taking his hand.

"Oh— Okay. My room is up the stairs and the first door on the left." Iggy opened the door to his room and pulled me to his bed, where I sat next to him.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked, looking around the room. It smelled of explosives and Axe. The walls were white, along with everything else, but there were smudges of what looked like gunpowder on the walls. His bed wasn't made, but it didn't make the room look messy.

"Look at me?"

"How did you know I wasn't?"

"Everything in here is white, Tairah. I can see you," he said, being serious for once and I looked over to him. Sure enough, his blue eyes were focused on me and he was smiling slightly. He leaned forward and snatched my hands, holding them in his lap. I blushed at the physical contact. Realizing he could see it, I blushed more. "Tair… I don't want you to do this just because your dad is stubborn or something. You can run away from home."

"If I ran away, they'd just find me again. Why are you so intent on this not happening to me?"

Iggy sighed. "There are two reasons, Tair… First, it's not like we don't trust you or anything, but the Whitecoats have a way of making you do what they want. They'll put one of those chips in your arms, like they did to Max, and they'll be able to track you and make sure that the information you're giving them is true. Tairah… it's almost impossible to lie to them."

I sighed. "Iggy… I'll _make_ them trust me. No matter what it takes."

"Okay, Tair. If you think you can do it."

"You said there were two reasons you didn't want me to do it? That's only one."

Iggy looked away awkwardly. "The other reason is that… Tairah… That place is _awful_ and I don't want you to have to go through that because… well…" Iggy trailed off awkwardly and looked around the room; trying to find something other than me that he could stare at.

I squeezed his hand, which he was still holding. "Go on, tell me."

His head swung back to me, making his hair, which was un-spiked today, flop just into his eyes. "It'd be easier to show you."

I swallowed and nodded. "Then show me," I said, ready for whatever he was about to show me. I was surprised when he leaned in closer to me and his eyes stopped focusing on me.

"Is this okay?" he whispered, his breath hitting my lips.

"Yeah," I said quietly and closed my eyes as he kissed me.

He pulled away almost immediately, looking away from me and letting go of my hands. "That's why I don't want you to go." His eyes made their way back to my face. "What if it doesn't work and you… die? It's happened before and they've never tried it on someone your age before and—"

"Ig."

He didn't meet my eyes. "Yes?"

"I think it's for the best if you don' t worry about me."

"I know… Max already gave me this talk. She told me not to kiss you, too, because that would just make it worse if you… if you didn't make it."

I moved so I was sitting next to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "Don't think about it, Ig. I know I'll be fine, okay? It worked on you guys when you were babies, and that was _fourteen years_ ago. There's no reason for it to not work now."

Iggy sighed. "Just promise me that you won't do anything that'll get you killed while you're there?"

I smiled and nodded. "Of course, Iggy. I won't do _anything_ to get myself killed."

He looked back at me and touched my face. "Can I kiss you again?" he asked, licking his lips. "You taste really good."

I laughed and kissed his cheek. "I don't think it would be good for us to get more attached than we already are, Ig." He rolled his eyes as I pulled away from him and answered my buzzing phone. "Hello?"

"Tairah! Sweetie, you need to be at home at this time in the afternoon! I don't know _why_ your father told you to stay away from home, but now he's wandering around the house looking for you. Get over here!" My mother hung up her phone and I sighed.

"What?" Iggy asked, standing.

"I have to go… and my days here in the afternoons are over."

"Why? I don't wanna just have to see you at school."

I smiled sadly. "My dad wants me to come straight home from school, now. You know where my house is?" I asked, getting up and pulling Iggy to the door.

"Yeah, we drive past it on our way to school." Iggy came with me to the front door.

"My room is the only one on the back with a balcony. You can come visit me or something…" I trailed off and smiled at him as I opened the door.

"Bye, Tairah!" he called as I got into my car.

"I'll see you later, okay?" He nodded and then I drove away.

**[End: Chapter Eight]

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**Whew! Finished that -_- I'm sorry it was filler-esque… **READ MY OTHER (slightly new, but not really) **FAX** STORY VIENNA! NOW!

**I have one question: If I were to change the name of this story, what do you think it should be? Suggest things for me :]**


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